Friday, February 28, 2014

It is time to post my project for the February, From the Heart Stamps progressive stamp of the month challenge, and boy not a minute too soon since the link up expires in just a few short hours.In order to enter this challenge, you
must either have received the latest image by having participated in the
previous month or you can buy the stamp for the current month's
challenge. Everyone
who enters and follows the rules is a winner because you
automatically get the stamp for the next month's challenge. Stop by the
site and check out the rules
for yourself. While you are there, have a look around. They have some
really great images. Below you will find the card I'm entering for the February challenge.

Here are my card and details, I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

General Information:

What a fabulous set this month! Not only do we get this adorable Birdbrain image but we also get a whopping 16 sentiments to go with it! Absolutely splendiferous!

FRONT

Digital Stamp:

The image on the front, Birthday Candle Birdbrain, is available for purchase over at From the Heart Stamps. Click HERE or on the watermarks below to go to its location in the store.

I just wanted to let you all know that Heather is offering up a fun freebie today. Check her out...

Know anyone who is Irish?

Have any St. Patrick's Day cards you need to create?

Want a new fun image to play with?

Well, if you answered yes to any of the three questions, they you'll definitely want to head over to the Freshly Brewed Challenges blog to find out all the details you need, on how to add this delectable doll, Kiss Me I'm Irish, to your Fresh Brewed Designs (FBD) collection. Don't have any FBD images? Well then, this is the perfect time to start since she is absolutely, totally, and completely 100% FREE.

She's only going to be available for a short period of time so make sure you act now, before she's gone!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

It is time to upload my creation for the Imagine That Progressive Challenge. This is another wonderful progressive challenge that I am lucky to be a part of. Kris B., the designer behind the images, is a fabulous designer and I'm happy I get the chance to earn new sets each month by linking up.

Christmas Card Count to date: 4

Yay, I've none done my two cards for the month.

This month the image that everyone who is part of the progressive challenge gets to play with, is the adorable, Polar Love.

Seriously? How cute is this image. You get the option of working with either the colour image or the line art one or both, like I did this month by morphing elements of the two, which you can read about a little later on. Additionally, this set has three great sentiments that work wonderfully with this design.Here are my card and details, I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

General Comments:

A lot of time went into getting just the right look with the image by working with it digitally, but I think it was time well spent.

FRONT

Digital Images:

Polar Love: This image is available in the store and is currently on sale. Click on the image name or the watermark above to head to its location in the store.

As I mentioned above, I have actually morphed bits of the coloured image in with the black and white version. I had wanted to colour the majority of the image on my own but I just loved how the mailbox was coloured and of course really loved the backdrop in behind the image. So with quite a bit of finagling, I achieved the look I was going for.

The rest of the image was coloured in with a combination of Copics, and using the effects of layer styles.

Digital credits...the snow was achieved with applying a layer style from Sheila Reid, a designer with Pixel Scrapper. The hearts were achieved with applying a layer style from Marisa Lerin also with Pixel Scrapper.

Embellishments:

The glitter snowflakes were purchased at Michaels.

INSIDE

Digital Sentiment:

One available in the Polar Love kit.

OVERALL Paper Products:

Card base: Michael's Recollection's Card Kit, white, lg.

Both the gingham paper and the word art one on the inside are from the Recollection's Bright Christmas paper pad.

The cardstock is from one of my Michael's collections but it has been downstairs too long for me to remember which one.

I
encourage you to go and check out the digis that Kris offers along with
the Progressive Free Digi Challenge. It is another fun place to shop and play.

Well guys, one more post done. Unfortunately though, it is already 8:30 and there is no way that I am going to get the chance to get anything ready for a Wonderful Wednesdays post. Hopefully by the weekend I might be able to get the final items of the kit out. I sincerely apologize but with this month having two fewer days, it has really messed me up and I still have one more progressive challenge to make a card for. Then of course there is the birthday card for my mom who is celebrating on Sunday and will not have a card in time. Sheesh, I really do need to look into this whole cloning thing.

Have you ever had one of those days where you finish off a post and are just editing it to make sure it looks okay and you do one backspace and suddenly EVERYTHING disappears? I mean EVERYTHING. Not one little letter is left? Well all I can say is thank goodness that I had previewed it. At least that allowed me the option of selecting all and copying and pasting it into a new post to then try and copy out the bits I needed to copy and past into yet another new post. And while it added yet another 20 minutes onto creating this post, at least I didn't have to do it from scratch which would have meant at least another 70 minutes minimum. Not sure I'd have been able to since I probably wouldn't have seen the screen through all the tears running down my face. So with that being said...

It is time to submit my card for this month's Progressive Christmas Challenge taking place over at DigiStamps4Joy. Yay, one more card to add to the Christmas Card Pot to help me avoid the yearly Christmas Card Panic.

Christmas Card Count to date: 3

Yeah,
it isn't much yet but then we are only the second month into the year.
In fact, if everything goes according to plan, that number will be up
to four as soon as I can get my next post out.

Here is the image we get to use this month:

...and here is my card, I hope that I haven't forgotten any details:General Info:

I
came across this great idea for a card layout. Now I wrote down that
it was a colleague of mine from Fresh Brewed Designs whose card I had
seen it on, Linda Anderson, but I can't remember if it was her personal
blog or the main FBD blog where I actually saw it. I guess it doesn't
really matter as long as I give a shout out to her for the inspiration.Thanks Linda, it was perfect for this particular card. I'm sure I'll be using it again.

FRONT

Digital Image:

This image has been coloured in with Copic Markers.

Copics
used...Dragon: YG00, YG03, YG06, YG09. Unfortunately the glitter glue
had a mind of its own and squelched out all over the place. Oops. I
tried to clean it up as best as I could but it isn't as nice as I'd have
liked. Hat and ball: R22, R24, R29. B00 and the colourless blender
was used to ground
the overall image.

Digital Sentiment:

One I created.

Embellishments:

The ribbon is Offray brand and purchased at Michael's.

Embossing Folder:

Awhile
back I had done a card with a red piece of cardstock that had been
embossed with the large dot pattern. I had some leftover and thankfully
used part of it for this project. It is always great to be able to use
bits and pieces from my stash. It was originally created with a
Goosebumpz embossing folder.

INSIDE

Digital Sentiment:

One I created.

Other Notes:

I
Kept the inside extremely CAS, as I didn't even mat the sentiment. I
thought about going with either the same shade of blue or green from the
front but it just didn't look right and I think that the contrast of
the white on red is sufficient.

OVERALLPaper Products:

Card base and matting: Michael's Recollection's cardstock, red.

The designer paper is from Recollection's Signature Festivus paper pad.

http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/
-- Bright Funky Colours (I think that the combination of blue and green
and red and orange on the same card is a bit funky and my dragon and
the red background are definitely bright)

If you are interested in joining the DS4J progressive
Christmas card challenge
you will need to contact Desíre (her details are at the bottom of the post). I've linked the badge above to take you to that
post.

Well, one more is finally done. Now I'm off to work on my post for the next one. Remember I have a 12 months of Christmas link up going on right
now that you can add your own Christmas cards to as well. Click HERE
for all the details. There is still two days to link up your two cards
for February in order to get your free paper for the month.

Hey guys, I am here today to remind you all about the Blog Candy Giveaway Challenge that is going on over at Fresh Brewed Designs. Don't forget, for the whole year in 2014 we will be having ONE blog candy challenge per month.

There is still time to enter and win in this month's challenge. Remember this particular challenge isANYTHING GOES using an FBD image.

MUST post CANDY badge (the one up top) on your sidebar, linking it back to Freshly Brewed Challenges and add this blog candy photo below in EACH post with your card, with a link back to the February blog candy challenge post.

For all the details including the link up, please click HERE or on the badge above.

Here is a card that I have created to help inspire you...

FRONT

Digital Image:

Sweet Snail: This image is currently available in the FBD store. You can find it by clicking on the image name or watermark below.

I used Copics to colour the image in and chalk to ground it. Holy Lord love a duck! I cannot believe how badly the blue ink spread when I sprayed the image with fixative last night. Everything looked fine beforehand and now it looks like I have no idea how to colour within the lines. Hmmm...I wonder if I should wait 24 hours before spraying the images but that seems a little ridiculous. Anyways, I am not at all pleased how it turned out in the end.

Digital Sentiment:

My own.

Embellishments:

The sequins are Crafts brand purchased at Dollarama.

Embossing Folder:

The
pattern on the pink cardstock was created with one of the Cricut Paper Lace II embossing folders using my wonderful Big Shot machine.

INSIDE

Digital Sentiment:

This is a great sentiment also available from Fresh Brewed Designs.

OVERALL

Paper Products:

Card base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, white.

Designer Papers:

The stitched paper used on the front is
from Recollection's Bright & Basic Paper Pad.

The pink cardstock used on the embossed strip on the front as well as for matting is Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, Soda Pop collection.

Just before I go, I'd like to remind you of the other challenge taking place over at Fresh Brewed Designs this month. Stop by and play along in our Month Long Challenge for a chance to win DIGIS or BE FEATURED AS A GUEST DESIGNER in our Choose Your Challenge. Please click HERE or on the badge below to find out more and see all the rules to enter.

Don't forget that we also have a new blog hop coming up on the 10th of March that we hope you will all join us for.

Thanks
for stopping by and taking a look. I hope you have the chance to go
and check out the Sweet Snail I used,along with all the other
great images available in the store. If you are looking for more fresh brewed inspiration, I'll be back in a couple weeks to
showcase a card made with one of the fantastic new releases Heather has
planned for March. You are definitely not going to want to miss any
the great new images.

At Fresh Brewed Designs we always have a fresh pot
of creativity brewing. So stop by and join us for a cuppa whenever you
want!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Happy
Monday everyone! It is time to announce the latest challenge over at the Digi Darla's Challenges Blog. This week for Challenge #103 the theme is "Masculine". This tends to be a difficult theme for many people but I know you are all up to the challenge! Hee, hee!One person will be the lucky winner of FIVEDigi Darla (DD) images! AND any entries using a DD image get entered into a SECOND drawing for THREE images.
So, you could technically win eight images! If you do use one of Kim's
wonderful images make sure you let us know by writing DD after your
name when you enter.Please
note though that starting the first Monday in March, there will be some
changes to Digi Darla's Challenges in terms of both frequency and
prizes so be sure to check out THIS POST to find out what is happening.
Now on to my project for this week in which I have managed to use a record 12, that's right, 12 images. That is by far, the most images I have EVER used
on a card. Here is the list of them...

I
tried to upload the jpgs for the puppies but for some reason when they come into the
actual post, they are blank. The images are visible
when I first load them but when I go back the spots are there but once
again you can't see anything. It is very strange. At least the last two showed up and of course the links for the puppies can be found above.

General Comments:

This card is for my little cousin who will be turning....oops, sadly I can't remember how old Alex is going to be. Nine? Ten? hmmmm...this memory of mine is really going downhill.

FRONT

Digital Images:

Puppies Up 1-10: You can find all these images in the DD store by clicking on the image names linked above.

Hee, hee. Look at all those cute little puppies. They are all just so adorable. I've used Puppies Up 2 on a card before but none of the others. When I first thought about the concept for this card I was hoping I'd be able to pull it off. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

All the puppies and balloons were coloured using Copic markers. I then added some iridescent glitter to some of the balloons and some of the bows. Chalk was used to ground the images and create a semblance of a cloudy sky.

Once I set up all the puppies, I added a box around them to add some faux stitching.

So, how about you come on over and show us a fabulous creation suitable for a boy or man, by entering in our current challenge this week over at Digi Darla's Challenges?While
you are there please check out the great projects from the rest of
the design team. We always look forward to seeing the delightful
creations you come up with.

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About Me

Hi! My name is Lisa and welcome to my blog. Whether drawing, painting, cross-stitching, card making, or doing nail art, I've been 'creating' since I was knee high to a grasshopper. At the end of 2011, I really started getting interested in the world of card making and nail art. I knew that there were already a lot of creative card makers, digi stamp designers, and nail artists out there and I continue to learn a lot from them, but I needed a place to showcase my work so I could enter some challenges and as a result, created this blog in October of 2012.
I live in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I am happily married to my college sweetheart and we have been married for over 27 years. We were never blessed with children so our 'babies' have always been cats. Currently, we have one female tabby named Marigold.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a blast!

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Welcome to my blog. I am so very glad you are here! There is lots to see--card design, showcases, motivation, inspiration and more! Some of that more includes oodles and oodles of FREEBIES! With well over 100+ free designs available--images, papers, sentiments and other digital goodies--You've come to the right place! Scroll down and click on 'Free' in the label section. I'm sure you'll find something you could use. Don't forget to come back often as new ones are added every week!

I'm always open to feedback so either leave me a comment or email me. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

May each day bring with it love and laughter and joy for ever after!

Since I'm rarely in my gmail a/c if you need to get in touch, please send an email to: decossesdynamitedoodles {at} yahoo {dot} ca. (be sure to replace 'at' & 'dot' with the correct symbols).

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